The GT1 series has a brand-new calendar, which was just announced today. San Luis (Potrero de los Funes) and Zandvoort are out, while the Koreans are in (having realised that they can use their circuit for more than just Formula 1), and the Slovakians are joining the party.

That’s a shame, the drivers really seemed to like that Argentine track. I like Zandvoort too, although it’s probably a bit tight for GT1. I went to watch them at Silverstone last year, pity they’re not coming back.

I have to admit, I am happy the Korea track will be used more, since it is one I like. Slovakia should be interesting, and as for Argentina the calendar regularly changes year-on-year so it shouldn’t be too long before we see it back.

I think that GT1 is sorely in need of a good calendar. Looking at some of the circuit they’ll be visiting, they don’t inspire much in the way of excitement.

First of all, I think they need to bump the number of races up to twelve – four in Europe, four in the Americas and four in Australiasia. And I think they need to find twelve circuits that are very good, but which are not necessarily the first circuits someone would think of for racing. I think the ideal calaendar would look something like this:

That Goldenport Park circuit in China is a mess. It’s like those pay-and-race go-kart tracks you see on industrial estates, only slightly bigger, but still in an industrial estate. Seemed like such a strange venue.

And the Slovakiaring… that’s just dangerous. They had GT3 cars backflipping there last season. There’s a rise and fall on the back straight that is not suitable.

Now like you say PM, the Red Bull Ring… that would be a good circuit for these. With a grid of only 18 cars, shorter circuits should be favoured.

@ajokay – It seems a bit strange that they have two rounds in China, especially given that China had a questionable track record when it comes to these events. After all, both A1GP and Stupid Football Thing proved to be an utter debacle when they tried to race there. The A1GP cars couldn’t make it around the hairpin on one circuit, and parts of the Superleague Formula circuit were too narrow for safe racing to take place, so the whole thing became a non-championship round.

I think what GT1 really needs is high-quality circuits that are not necessarily the first circuit you would think of for racing. For example, instead of having a race at Silverstone, they could have a race at Thruxton instead.

@prisoner-monkeys – I agree with you on the sort of tracks that should be chosen. World famous circuits, but not necessarily world class, as it were.

I’m not sure about Thruxton though. I think somewhere like Oulton Park or Snetterton would be great for a British round. How about somewhere like Eastern Creek in Australia, Mugello in Italy… Barber in Georgia would be a brilliant choice too, especially with the elevation changes.

@ajokay – I wouldn’t go to Eastern Creek if you paid me to. It’s not a great circuit.

There’s not a wide variety of fantastic circuits in Australia. Certainly very few that would be appropriate to GT racing. The one thing that we can do is a street circuit, so I think GT1 at Adelaide or the long Gold Coast circuit would be pretty good. The trick is to do it in such a way that the series isn’t overshadowed by the V8 Supercars.

Not a bad calendar you’ve suggested there, but I’d love to see them go back to Potrero de los Funes.

Anyway, back on topic, it’s good to see the Korean track get another race, it seems to have very few other motorsport events apart from F1, and the more they get, they can perhaps build some more motorsport interest.

Gotta agree, Barber is one of my favorite tracks in the world. Too bad there isn’t really any international racing happening there, but the Indy and Grand Am races that they do have there are pretty amazing.

I’ve read that the IRL told Mid-Ohio and Sonoma to make some changes to their layout so that the tracks would be up to current standards, and while I’m not so sure Sonoma can be improved much, Mid-Ohio could be great with a few changes.

@joey-poey – I actually think that Laguna Seca is one of the msot over-rated circuits in the world. Perhaps the most over-rated. Aside from the Corkscrew, the first corner and the last corner, most of the rest of the track is identical.

@prisoner-monkeys Your kidding right? There is no track like it, anywhere else. The elevation is more extreme than Spa, and most of the turns take real talent to take quickly. And how are all the corners the same? The only three that are similar are 3, 4 and to a smaller extent 10, but everything else is completely different. Definitely not over-rated.

@prisoner-monkeys Did you watch the last 3 ALMS races there? How about some of the old CART races they had there? They don’t have many races there anymore, but the ones that they do are almost always fantastic.